How to Report Fake Amazon Reviews in 2026 (Step-by-Step)

You found a fake Amazon review. Maybe it's obviously AI-generated, suspiciously vague, or posted by an account that reviews only unrelated products. The question is what to do about it.

The good news: reporting takes less than a minute. The process is built directly into every Amazon listing and does not require an account. Here is exactly how to do it — on Amazon, with the FTC, and at the state level — and what happens after you submit.

How to Report a Fake Amazon Review Directly

Step 1: Find the Report Link on the Review

Navigate to the Amazon product page and scroll to the review you want to report. Underneath every review, below the "Was this review helpful?" buttons, there is a Report link.

If you are viewing on desktop, look for the small grey text that says "Report." On mobile, tap the three-dot menu or look for "Report abuse" below the review text. The link is deliberately small — Amazon does not make reporting conspicuous — but it exists on every review.

Step 2: Select the Right Reason

Clicking Report opens a dropdown or popup with several options. For fake reviews, select:

"The review is not genuine" — this is the correct category for suspected fake, AI-generated, or incentivized reviews. Do not use "Inappropriate content" or "Spam" — those categories trigger different workflows and your report will be less useful.

Other reasons you may see:

• "Inappropriate content" (offensive or off-topic)
• "The review contains a link"
• "The reviewer is associated with the product"

That last option — "The reviewer is associated with the product" — is appropriate if you have specific evidence that the reviewer is the seller, a seller employee, or a known associate. The "not genuine" option is the right catch-all for most fake review scenarios.

Step 3: Submit

Some versions of the report flow include a text box for additional context. If it appears, add specific details: "Reviewer account created this month, has 30 five-star reviews for unrelated products, language is generic and matches other reviews on this listing." Specificity helps the Trust and Safety team prioritize.

Submission is instant. You will not receive a response — Amazon does not notify reporters of investigation outcomes.

How to Report Fake Reviews to Amazon's Seller Enforcement Team

For systemic manipulation — a product with hundreds of obvious fake reviews, coordinated timing patterns, or a seller with a pattern across multiple listings — the single review Report link is not enough. Amazon has a dedicated seller enforcement channel for this.

Amazon's reporting form for policy violations:
Go to Amazon's seller feedback and policy violation reporting form (search "Amazon report seller policy violation" or navigate through Amazon Help). This routes your complaint to the Selling Partner Trust and Safety team, which handles coordinated manipulation rather than individual reviews.

When filling out the form:

• Include the seller name and ASIN
• Describe the pattern specifically: "200 reviews posted in a single week, all from accounts created within 30 days, all 5-star, all using similar vague language"
• If you have screenshots or links to external review marketplaces promoting this product, include them

This escalated report goes to a different team than the individual review flag and is more likely to trigger an account-level investigation.

How to Report Fake Reviews to the FTC

The Federal Trade Commission issued its final rule on fake reviews in August 2024. Under this rule, it is illegal for businesses to purchase fake reviews, manufacture fake reviews, or suppress negative reviews. Civil penalties reach $51,744 per violation.

File a complaint at ReportFraud.ftc.gov

The process:

1. Go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov
2. Select "Online Shopping" as the category
3. Describe the fake review situation: seller name, product ASIN, what you observed, and any external evidence (screenshots of the review broker website, Telegram group screenshots, etc.)
4. Submit your contact information (optional but useful for follow-up)

The FTC does not investigate individual complaints in isolation. They use complaint volume and patterns to identify enforcement targets. A single report contributes to the data pool — which is why widespread reporting matters even when individual outcomes are not visible.

How to Report to Your State Attorney General

Many state attorneys general have consumer protection divisions that handle online review fraud under state deceptive trade practices laws. States with the most active enforcement in this area include California, New York, Texas, and Florida.

How to report:

1. Search "[your state] attorney general consumer complaint"
2. Most states have online complaint forms — select "Online shopping" or "False advertising" as the category
3. Describe the fake review situation and include the product URL

State-level complaints are particularly useful for patterns involving sellers that primarily operate in your state, or for consumer harm claims (you purchased a product based on fake reviews and it was defective or dangerous).

What Happens After You Report

Amazon's Process

Reports go into Amazon's Trust and Safety review queue. Amazon uses a combination of automated detection and human review to evaluate reported reviews. Factors that increase removal probability:

• Multiple independent reports on the same review
• Reviewer account shows other policy violations
• The review is part of a broader manipulation pattern Amazon has already flagged
• The review uses specific patterns their detection models associate with manipulation

Amazon does not tell you what happened after you report. You will not receive a confirmation, and the review may remain visible for days or weeks during investigation. If removed, it disappears from the listing without notice.

FTC Process

The FTC aggregates complaints and uses them to identify patterns. Enforcement actions typically target large-scale operations rather than individual sellers. Outcomes include civil investigations, consent orders, and civil penalties. The FTC's fake review enforcement actions in 2022–2024 resulted in tens of millions of dollars in penalties against review manipulation networks.

Why Reporting Matters Beyond the Individual Review

Individual reports have a compounding effect. When multiple users report the same review or the same seller, Amazon's detection systems assign higher confidence scores to the manipulation flag. The seller risk profile increases. Account-level investigations become more likely.

The same logic applies to FTC reporting: consumer complaint volume is one of the leading indicators the FTC uses to prioritize enforcement resources. High-volume complaint patterns trigger investigative attention that single reports never would.

Thirty seconds of your time contributes to a system that removed 250 million fake reviews in a single year. It is worth doing.

What Else You Can Do: Verify Before You Buy

Reporting after the fact helps other shoppers. But the most effective protection is checking before you buy.

A fake review checker analyzes the patterns you would need hours to evaluate manually — account age, timing anomalies, language variance, verified purchase ratio — and returns a trust score in seconds.

For a complete guide to identifying, reporting, and avoiding fake Amazon reviews, see the Amazon Fake Reviews hub.

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Related: How to Spot Fake Amazon Reviews in 2026 · Amazon Fake Review Statistics 2026 · Best Fake Review Checker Tools in 2026